The Hunter's Dream
by AetherPaw
Summary: Ruby Rose has a series of rather unpleasant dreams. Cities of beasts and blood. Men turned into monsters. How many restless night lay ahead?


I don't own either Bloodborne or RWBY. They belong to Rooster Teeth and FromSoft respectively. This is merely a fan work, and probably not even a particularly great one either.

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Dreams are many different things to many different people; A refuge from the painful world, or a rejuvenating memory after a long days work...

Remember, however, that not all that lurks within ones psyche is joyful or kind. Some things buried are better left buried.

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"Hhhaaaaa!"

I sat up with a gasp, panting for a moment, Soaked through and grimy with sweat. The memories of my nightmare still way to vivid. I clutched my head. Waaaaay to vivid. I haven't remembered any dream so clearly in...

Ever.

I shook my head. I was in my bed. At my dorm in Beacon Academy. My friends are around me, and I'm far, far away from... wherever that was. Not in that horrible antiseptic smelling room of my nightmare.

I remembered being strapped to a table. There was some Beowolf... skeleton thing, that burst into flames when it tried to touch me.

Is this like the pink elephants thing? I don't want to remember this!

There was the blood too. I could smell it in the air. Feel it pulsing through my veins. The wolf monster had risen out of a growing pool of it.

It might not have been nearly as bad if i could talk... or scream.

Then there were those little zombie things. Pale, ugly. Just, really creepy and disturbing. The monster was just one more beast, the little things were...

I shuddered, and tried to push aside the memories. It was like I could feel the cold, clammy hands all over again.

I scrubbed at my eyes. I was Ruby Rose. Leader of team RWBY. I got into Beacon two years early because I creamed a bunch of armed robbers. I should be able to handle a bad dream.

...

I want a hug.

My eyes slowly turned towards my big sister. Yang was directly across from me, snoring quietly, curled under her blond mane and a mess of blankets. She'd lost her pillow - again, I noted with a slight smile- and was resting her head on her arms. Too bad she wasn't awake. Not that just wishing for it ever worked... but maybe.

I checked my clock. 3:30, and this will be the last night that we get to sleep in for a while since classes start up again... tomorrow I guess. I bit my lip gently.

Pretty sure that Yang wouldn't be that annoyed at being woken up, but she's kinda loud, and I knew that our roomies would be less the happy with us. Better not. We can talk and I can get my hugs tomorrow. Doesn't make me feel any better about things right now, though.

I glanced at the bunk below Yang's.

Blake tossed and turned a bit. She'd ditched most of her blankets, and seemed to be having difficulty finding a comfortable position. I guess I'm not the only one having a rough night tonight. But then, I don't think she's slept well since that night at the docks. I'll have to talk with her about that at some point...

A smile crept back on to my face.

Never thought that I'd wind up being team therapist. I guess it's just one more job I have as Team leader.

I let myself fall back on my clammy sheets, and stared at the ceiling.

Weiss is definitely asleep by now, probably only after deciding that the rope will hold my bed up again tonight. To be honest, I can't blame her; pretty sure the rope is fine -it's held up pretty good for the last few weeks after all- but I am a somewhat restless sleeper. And the rope does need a bit of tightening ever couple of days.

She's starting to lighten up about everything else though. She's still our team Ice Queen, but she's slowly getting better.

My eyes slowly drooped shut. Maybe I'm done with the bad dreams tonight. It's still pretty early, and even though I really don't have to be up and doing stuff later I'd rather not waste my last day passed out. Maybe we can get the whole team together, and make our final day of break awesome.

That sounds... like...

I gave a yawn.

'Sounds like a plan.

The smell of blood and antiseptic.

No. Nononononono. Nope.

I mashed my eyes closed tighter. I'm not going to go back to that horrible nightmare place. I'm going to have a good dream, with Yang, and Blake and Weiss. We're going to have all the strawberries, cookies, and milk we want. Blake will be all happy because in my dream land nobody discriminates, and maybe we can all talk and laugh without anything heavy coming up. Even Weiss would be- Nope. Can't see it. Can't even finish the thought. Weiss is always grumpy. Everyone else could be in a good mood though, and she could be in less of a bad one.

So given that I am not having another nightmare, why isn't that smell going away?

I cracked an eyelid.

Instead of the whitewashed ceiling with my posters on it, or my awesome technicolor sky in magical dream land, I found myself staring at an old wooden roof of questionable integrity.

I mashed my eye shut again.

"Nope." I whispered to myself finding that my vocal cords worked this time. I covered my face with my arms, finding them unbound, half to my surprise. "I'm not dealing with this. I'm just going to wake up, and go hug Yang."

I tried to will my self to wake up, and when that didn't work, I tried pinching myself. It hurt, but it didn't wake me up. I just sat that with my arms covering my face for a couple of minutes, trying to block out the room and that echoing noise.

...

If I just continue to lay here, and whatever is making those noises shows up, I'll probably be in trouble.

"Maybe it won't be so bad." I told myself firmly. "I mean, I know it's a dream, -pinching not waking me up not withstanding- and if I know it's a dream I can affect it right?" What did Velvet call it again, 'lucid dreaming'?

Not that I really expect it to work. After all, if it was that easy, I'd be have done it already, and wouldn't be having this conversation with myself.

I opened my eyes, and sat up. I then willed the world around me to change into the snowy landscape burned into my memory so long ago.

As my eyes adjusted to the dark, I could tell pretty easily that plan 'Lucid Dream' wasn't going to work. I'll have to let Velvet know that she either wasted her lien on that book, or the author left something important out.

I blew another frustrated sigh. "Fine." I guess I should just take stock of the environment.

I got up off the cot, and walked over to one of the strange desks. The style was pretty unusual, I'd never seen anything like it around the shops in town. Of course, I guess I also never really visited too many furniture stores. The wood was really nice anyway, or... would be if it wasn't covered with stains from... stuff.

I really didn't want to think about it too much.

I turned my attention to the books. Mostly medical stuff that went mostly over my head or I knew to be outright wrong from the triage courses I took at signal. I flipped through a few pages in a musty old book, finding that it was filled with information on a medical practice call 'blood ministration'.

I closed the book, and paused for a moment. The few steps I skimmed and the diagram had pretty much nothing to do with when even I would call good medicine, yet the book also said that it was a common practice.

I set the book down, and turned my attention towards the rest of the room.

I'd already noticed how unfamiliar the non-medical furniture was, but the medical stuff looked pretty simple and practical, if not very clean. I guess that It's nice having that one thing to hold onto, even if my times visiting the Signal clinic weren't exactly the best days of my life. Beacon probably has something similar. Pretty sure that the cots back home were considerably cleaner.

I felt my throat catch a bit, and I grit my teeth. "The waking world." I reminded myself forcefully. "This is just a bad dream, and when I wake up, I'm going to have chocolate chip pancakes and strawberry syrup."

If Nora didn't eat all the pancakes... or drink all the syrup.

Continuing my search of the room revealed pretty much everything it had to offer, and none of that was a change of cloths. This could be a problem, considering that, awesome as my rose print sweats and beowolf tank top are for sleeping in or slumming it in my room all day, they aren't great for going out. Especially if there were Grimm around.

Related note, I don't have my sweetheart. I don't have my scroll either, not that I'd know the co-ordinance to get my locker here anyway. There are also some really bad noises coming from downstairs, and I'm actually, really, really scared right now. I know that quite a few hunters can fight without their weapon but I'm not one of them.

Yang says it's all in my head, but that's easy for her to say since she's happy to punch grimm to death whether she has her gauntlets or not. She always was better at strengthening herself with aura then me. Probably something to do with her semblance.

... Do... Do I still have aura here?

I snatched up a scalpel, and called my aura. A quick test had the delicate knife break, and I relaxed just a bit. At least I had some protection if it turned out that the what-ever-it-was downstairs was a grimm of some sort.

I really wished that the other door wasn't locked. I could probably break it, but that would be painful and lots noisier then just trying to sneak out the other way. If I brought what ever was making those noises running, well, I might as well not have tried.

The stairs creaked loudly, or maybe they only seemed loud since I'm the one trying to be quiet. Regardless, I couldn't help but flinch ever single step I took. I even considered using my semblance, but decided against it given that I really didn't feel like running headlong into whatever it was that was down there.

I'm not going to repeat the Deathstalker thing if I can possibly help it. I learned my lesson there. Bold steps forward into unknown, terrifying territory should be reserved for when one is armed with enough firepower to kill an army, and was walking towards it with friends.

Tears welled up a little

Here I am. All alone.

I want my team. I want Weiss' friendly insults. Blake's general moody Blakeness. I want my big sister to give me a hug and tell me that everything is going to be fine. I want Crescent Rose, and enough ammo to kill everything I see that isn't my team. I want to go home.

I wiped away the tears threatening to fall. I'm better then that. I'll get through this whatever it takes.

I reached the final step, both figuratively and literally, and entered into a small, mostly bare room at the bottom of the stairs. Nothing had heard me coming obviously, seeing as I didn't have a welcome party.

"Whew." I breathed softly. So far, so good.

The sounds were clearer now and I could hear that they really were horrible ripping noises, and it wasn't just my imagination. I could see more operating tables and a large screen through the door. The smell of blood was stronger too. Almost sickeningly sweet, and thick enough that I could almost taste the copper flavor.

I felt myself relax, almost against my will. I always was more comfortable on the battlefield, and one way or another, everything bleeds. The fact that the blood was overpowering the other clinic smells definitely didn't hurt. There is also very clearly something that would like to try to kill me in this room. I'd probably be almost happy about this if I had my scythe.

Given that I don't though, I really don't want to go in there. I swallowed, despite my painfully dry mouth. It's just a dream Ruby, just go with it. It was a dream last time, and it's probably a dream this time.

I want to wake up.

Slowly, reluctantly, I crept into the room and peeked around the screen.

A great wolf beast, like a beowolf but not, was eating the remains of a man. Bile rose in the back of my throat, and I had to hold all of my conflicting instincts in check. I kept reaching for the scythe that I knew wasn't there

It raised it's head, sniffing at the air, and as it did, I noticed that one of it's forelegs seemed mangled, and there was something dripping from it's belly. The beast was pretty badly hurt.

Of course, it's also three times my size and I'm unarmed. Aura counts for a lot... but it doesn't make a hunter invincible. If I had Crescent Rose, It'd be dead already, If I had any weapon... well, I'd like to think i could make it a fight.

We locked eyes, and I saw it's hate and hunger. I suddenly knew that i probably wasn't going to walk out of here.

I tried to run, but it was fast. The creature whipped around at the same time I did, smashing the table it was behind out of the way, and I heard it rip through the screen. I made a fist and turned on my heel, throwing a punch the way Yang had taught me. The blow struck home, but the beast didn't falter. It smashed me against the wall and I felt its claws wrap around my shoulder pinning me to the floor.

I beat at it, Screaming. Panic made me stronger, and each blow I delivered cracked bone and brutalized muscle. I could feel my Aura flooding my body, and condensing around me to take the edge of the worst of the creatures gnawing

We wrestled. It was far stronger then it looked, and far more vital. I was only able to survive due to the strength of my spirit, but as the minutes dragged by in our bloody match I felt my limbs slowly turn to led, and the claws and fangs started to actually mark me. Both of us slowed, but weight was on it's side. It was crushing me, and I started to realize just how much energy was going into keeping it off. It's hot breath and spittle constantly reminding me what would happen if I lost.

If I...

No.

Nonononononono.

I'm not going to die here!

I punched it harder, more wildly. Fear and adrenaline pumping through my body gave me more strength to fight back. As I felt the monsters teeth slide home, I knew it wasn't enough.

And the last of my aura flickered and died.

"AAAHHH!"

I burst up out of bed for the second time that night, heart pumping and thoroughly drenched.

"Ruby!?" At once, I felt the warmth surrounding me change as my older sister was suddenly there instead of the monster that was killing me.

My heart rate slowed, and I checked the clock.

8:30

I'm home. I'm home. I'm safe at home.

I hugged Yang tightly and buried my face into her shoulder to wipe away the tears.

"What's wrong?" A bow and a pair of gold eyes peeked over the edge of my bunk. Blake looked kind of alarmed, which, given how I just screamed I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I also didn't care very much. I was home again. Safe and sound. A quick glance revealed Crescent Rose, leaning against the desk she was using as a workbench last night.

It took me a bit, but i was finally able to get the words out. "There was blood, and antiseptics, and a wolf thing, but not a beowolf, and we fought..." I hugged my sister tighter as it sunk in how stupid this looked and sounded "It... It was Just a bad dream."

Blake waited for a moment longer, then dropped out of view. Probably deciding that I'd lost it entirely. Well, either that or Yang had me under control.

Yang was pretty clearly too sleepy to really have caught anything I had said, and just held and rocked me. That was perfectly fine with me. It was all I really wanted, after feeling so alone.

"Now that we've established that nobody's dying." A muffled voice came from below. "Can you three shut up for a while so I can get some more sleep!?"

'Definitely home again.' I thought, hugging Yang a little tighter.

And a new day dawned over Beacon Academy.


End file.
